How long do you wait before you leave your seedlings out in the rain?

never. drowning, damping off etc

When are they not seedlings anymore?

When are they not seedlings anymore?

When they are planted and established in the place they are going to grow-on and big enough to cope with their environment. Even sturdy 12-16" tall plants can be damaged by a "downpour".

Dave

Well my babies are going to have to grow up fast, then, lol! I don't have anywhere to keep them inside once they get bigger.

Once they get their 2nd set of leaves you should transplant them. Mine stay outside all the time. I have never had a problem with hard rains.

You've seen what Silvia does, right? They get a "baby" round plastic laundry-type hamper turned upside down so that for the first week they get filtered sun and if there is a downpour they don't get pounded by the rain...I've used this method and it works great for us working folks who can't be there during the early days of either too much sun or too much rain.

Tom

Like Tom suggests there are all sorts of things you can buy or make up to provide some shelter. Hundreds of different tents, cloches, row covers, clear plastic buckets with vent holes cut in them, even a 3 ring tomato cage with a board laid on top of it. The list goes on and on with just a bit of imagination. You just have to think outside the box.

I personally would NOT transplant them to their permanent home at the 2nd set of true leaves stage as the root system has not yet caught up with the top growth. Assuming they are,'t leggy then 6-8" tall with 3-4 sets of leaves is a pretty standard transplant size and then planted deeply.

Dave

Grow twice as many as you need, and put those suckers in the ground as soon as possible. Watch some die, and watch some grow as soon as they form baby second leaf structure.

All with a smile.